Gabriel and the Bat
by Amplesound
Summary: Bane has no friends. Only recruits, sewer workers, mercenaries etc, save one! Gabriel. He's complex with an inner rage that sits beneath his quirky smiles and outrageous wit. While Bane and Talia go ahead with their plan, Gabriel's mood regarding the entire thing darkens. So, I've tried this sort of casual writing style with LANGUAGE. Beware. And guys, who's Barbra G?


**A/****N: Righty ho, so like I said I'm foul mouthed so foul language is inevitable but if you're feeling like ma rating is little low, please let me know, I don't want to offend anyone. Too much. I like experimenting. So reviews? Wonderful but please, I've expirienced this before and I've seen other people expirience it too, if you don't like it and you think it's kak writing, that's fine, I don't mind and if you're offended by anything I truly and humbly apolagise, but don't leave silly, equally as offensive reviews. Just abandone the story, it's that easy. Get it? Got it? Good. Enjoy!**

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**Gabriel and the Bat  
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Gabriel's hands were quick and deft and broken. Scarred and marred and whatever else you'd care to put in a description of such hands. He'd had a rough time growing up though no one seemed to know much about him and he didn't bother to tell anyone because he didn't necessarily give a shit either – so logic would have us say, if he don't give no shit then why in the hell should anyone else?! Fair enough…but, you know, you always wonder. Bane met him when he had been thrown into the pit - before Talia, before any of that silly emotional side of things. Before any of it was important and the only thing that mattered was being the first one in the killing ring when the stale bread was thrown in. It was a grand total of 20 loaves to feed at least 200 men. Fat chance of any one getting a loaf to his self; a lot of men found themselves on the wrong end of a pipe because they had an entire slice. Well shit. Bane was in his cell when the young nobody was shoved into his line of vision. They were to share cells so it seemed and Gabriel waited for the cell gate to close behind him before he grinned boyishly, foolishly so. Bane, way back when the mask was not even a miniscule pinch of a thought in the very dark crevices of his mind, raised his eyebrow and rolled over. The grinning man said some useless comment to Bane's then more finely muscled back and shuffled about. Bane heard the gate creak open and slam shut and he would not come back for hours and yet when the bread was dropped – come now, Bane was Bane, everyone was shit scared of Bane so he always had more than his fair share but this foolish boy who was so new to the system? No, it was impossible and downright ego deflating to see such a lean and scrawny boy with the same amount. He grinned all the time. Every day, however, when the bread was dropped, Bane got the very distinct and equally as sinister feeling that someone was missing. The number of people storming the bread seemed to be lessening and it wasn't his doing; that was for sure. He glanced over to the young man with his now 3 thick slices of bread and got a grin in return as well as an offering of half of his third slice. Bane took it as an opportunity and cautiously made his way over – 2 nods and they were off and away, enthralling one another in each other's stories of horror and heroism and how they survived the world. Who was the worse man and why? Bane was intrigued by this man and learned his name as Gabriel. He would acquire a new name in the not so distant future but for the time being, Gabriel would suffice. Gabriel was a balancing act – in basic description. His whole life seemed to be about the balancing of one event after another in which he would do something incredibly brave for one purpose and incredibly evil for another all to benefit him because there was something he was trying to escape from – he hated history. Everyone hate's their own histories, though – that was the problem, Bane wasn't so keen on his either so all's well that ends well, right? Fuck off.

Bane came to find that Gabriel always carried around a slack line which he would put up every night and every morning and walk across it with ease, perfecting other little tricks along the way. He did other bodily exercises to keep his body lean and fit – light as a feather. He and Bane grew close, brothers until Bane woke to the familiar chant of escape: Deshi Basara – he rises. At first he thought it another fools desperate attempt but when he went to find out – the chant drilling through his brain and going auto-pilot on him so that he would always start chanting along with the masses without truly thinking about it – he was astounded to find Gabriel declining the rope being offered to him to tie around his waist. Upon seeing Bane, he jumped from the small platform and offered his hand and said,

"One day, Brother, you will know what it means to be free and you and I will roam free together."

Bane took his offered hand and held it firmly while Gabriel's eyes danced. Bane was speechless with his confidence and his hand dropped limply to his side when Gabriel let go of it and mounted the wall to begin his climb. He watched as Gabriel climbed higher and higher until he reached the perilous ledge on which he lingered for only a moment before he did what so many others always tried and failed to do…he lunged! And so swiftly and so smoothly too, it was almost impossible to believe there was any real danger in it at all. Gabriel climbed out and gave a swift wave and disappeared beyond the stone. Bane never forgot his last words – of course it wasn't too long after before Talia came into his…what, possession? No…ok fine, care. "Care" will do. That's the story everyone knows so we'll let that one slide.

Slide, slide, slide.

Many years later, Talia found Bane and Bane found Gabriel and an army of recruits for the sake of Ra's Al Ghul. Everyone knew the story of Batman and his dealings with the League of Shadows. He was a traitor and there for an enemy of the League and furthermore was acting in favour of a city he once swore to destroy or…something like that. Backwards isn't it? Just can't seem to figure out who's who here. Every hero is a villain to someone else just as every villain is a hero in their own eyes, so it never makes sense. Anyway, Bane convinced Gabriel to join their cause and introduced the much older figure of the man who climbed out so easily to Talia; his woman, his soul, his little gem and partner in crime, he figured they would get along just fine being survivors and climbers and all. The gorgeous yet ominous daughter of the League's former master took a shine to Gabriel quite quickly (as he suspected) granting Bane the permission he needed to pull Gabriel into the depths of the sea. Bane knew he would accept the offer but it was still important to have the whole team on bored because although Bane had grown to more or less get what Gabriel was about and trust him with his life, it wasn't something anyone would jump head first into with a man such as he. His quirky grins and dancing eyes and peculiar mannerisms were not particularly inviting to those who were more openly menacing…or perhaps he was a little too dark for their taste…the average person would accept him as an oddity and one of the groups weird friends…nope, Gabriel was a little more than that. That's a lie – he was a whole lot more than that and Bane knew it too. Between Bane and this man Gabriel; there was something quite…it was quite something. Anyway, way down the line and these broken hands of Gabriel's we were talking about in the beginning, were suddenly throwing the sack over Bane's head and zip-locking his hands behind his back. No fear, no paranoia for Bane was a big man and could quite easily unzip the zip-lock plastic with a powerful wrench.

"Should about do it, you look great,"

"Take us now, the FBI agent will be waiting," Bane's metallic now muffled voice commanded, ignoring Gabriel's jest. Gabriel, in turn, raised his eyebrows expectantly at the man Bane must have been addressing – that man simply took hold of Bane's arm and guided him into the back of the truck in which they would in a moment, pick up the good Doctor Pavel.

"Gabriel," Bane muffled just before he got in, "Wait only 20 minutes,"

"Yes, Captain," Gabriel saluted a sack-head Bane, as you do, and grinned at the other followers before they all piled into the truck and shot off in the direction of the lonely airport.

"Right," he spun on his heel and marched past the remaining recruits to get into the remaining car, "On we go,"

"Are you sure you know how to fly?" The man who asked him was sharp featured, hardened by unkind years and a hard life. He didn't look at Gabriel as he asked and so Gabriel, well he didn't look back – so all was well but he answered,

"Yup," he started the engine, "Depends on the plane but planes can't be that different from each other can they?"

"You know what sort of plane it is. Bane told you how it would be – the plane hasn't changed,"

"Well, how big is it?"

They approached their plane and it was pretty huge needless to say our sharp-featured man of life did not answer so Gabriel took the liberty of answering himself. Leaning forward into the steering wheel to get a better view of the enormous aircraft,

"That's pretty fuckin' big."

They pulled up and got out, bringing their bags and other equipment suitable for such heists. Gabriel wondered where on earth they managed to get the flying machine. He would have asked if he wasn't preoccupied with other thoughts such as: _Oh shit…_

They trolled their way up into the body of the plane and while the heist men put themselves in very cool looking jumpsuit sort of things, onesies – if you will, Gabriel made his way into the cockpit where he pretended to know what he was doing and put on a pair of headphones. When le sharp-featured man re-entered in his suit and sat down with a thump next to him, he handed him a pair which sharp-face put on grudgingly. Gabriel started the plane up and flicked a few switches,

"Vroom," he mumbled as he tried to work things out. In honesty, he had a basic knowledge of flying - a helicopter. This thing, however, was very different and he was unsure but he said he could fly and so fly he would. Ironically, the strange man next to him seemed to sense his discomfort and turned to him with a frown,

"If you kill us, boy, I will -"

Gabriel laughed as he began to get the plane moving, cutting the threat short,

"Oh, do tell,"

The man was silenced and taken aback by Gabriel's lack of empathy and so he shut up. Good. Scared, talkative types were not ideal for someone who didn't know how to fly a plane bigger than the God-Damn Atlantic Ocean. They approached the smaller air craft at quite a speed and as they drew ever nearer, Gabriel's face contorted into one of impressed surprise, the true size of the bird they were flying dawning on him. The plane they were following was severely dwarfed by the magnitude of their ridiculously massive bird…the verdict being: 'twas truly enormous,

"Right, I think you should go get yourself ready for your jump, don't you?" he just managed to say from the depths of his awe, he felt like a child with his first remote control…plane…tadaaa!

The sharp featured man glanced at him quickly before rising from his seat, dropping his headphones. He stopped at the door and turned with a mild look of _"For fuck's sakes, please don't kill us!" _

"You know what to do?"

"Well, if I don't, you'll soon find out," the grin that followed was bloody cheeky – way to freak out an assassin on a mission. The man left none the less, his expression the same with Gabriel's words fluttering along behind him – Good Luck as an addition.

It didn't take long as Gabriel flew directly over the plane, imagining what ingeniously terrifying things Bane might be saying before the big moment where he tore his hands from behind his back and announced the intended crashing of their puny shit of a plan. The FBI agent was one Gabriel had had a run in with before – he got away by the skin of his teeth but it would be nice to eradicate him all together: one last person on his case. There were enough of them…the twats.

The moment came where he had to speed up, pulling the tale of the smaller plane below him up, up, up and away so as to be dragged. He did so well until he flicked a different switch and the plan went on autopilot and the same switch did jack shit to get it back to the original settings. This was where Gabriel started panicking,

"Oh, Christ," he flipped one and then another, "Aw for ffff…! How – what? Why are you on autopilot?"

Every switch he flicked did something new and maddeningly unhelpful and the thought of an unimpressed Bane was not one he felt like entertaining – it would be a waste of his time to be shouted at. He built it up so much that he ended up accepting that the effing autopilot switch stuffed up his whole go-pro action man ego and that he now had absolutely no clue what he was doing and so! He slumped in his seat,

"Ah, fuck off," he gave the control desk one last slap and in so doing got the plane miraculously off autopilot which further more lead to it dipping in a downward direction – I wonder if it can dip in any other…anyway! It was gradual and slow but definitely noticeable so Gabriel shot up in surprise,

"Ooh shit!" grabbing the controls he guided the plane back onto its course. A bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face and he wiped it away on his sleeve coming to the conclusion that he would never fly a plane again, it was too stressful and autopilot would cost him his patience and so one day he would probably let a plane crash because he simply couldn't be bothered to try and figure out how to un-autopilot it - that, or he would try his luck with another random desk-slap and cause the machine to spontaneously combust…'cause that happens a lot. None sounded lovely.

They had flown a good while before Bane joined him on his thoughts, drawing him from his ideas of spontaneity and the implications of combustion – they were fairly amusing. Bane slipped on the headphones and took a seat, giving our dear Gabriel quite a look,

"So, where's the other guy?" Gabriel asked, pretending to look focused on his flying.

"They expect someone in the wreckage,"

Gabriel glanced at him in mild horror but it passed, he forgot, for a moment mind you, it wasn't really his problem,

"Ah right. I heard the big bang of the plane,"

"I saw it," Bane was always one up,

"How was it?"

"Bright,"

"That's it – what about the Doctor?" Gabriel was severely unimpressed with lack of detail.

"We have him safe and sound,"

"The fire rises then,"

"Indeed it does," Bane never looked at him. Gabriel wasn't too bothered. They landed the plane a few kilometres outside of Gothum City. There they met Barsard and Bane's other recruits who had been left behind. Barsard – the guy with the big gun? The henchman? Don't worry; I had no idea who he was either. They met this man Mr Dagget or something upon entering the city. His money was crashing and he wanted Bane to do something about it: Morph Wayne Enterprises into his own. Wayne Enterprises – Gabriel frowned at the name for it sounded familiar. Wayne…he wondered where he knew the name. Bane returned with his hands clutching his vest, all macho man like and…big. Gabriel started walking slowly away, giving the time for Bane to catch up with him,

"Where in the hell does that man fit in with anything?"

"We need his fortune he pays me," Bane glanced at him this time,

"He pays 'you'. Interesting,"

"Jealous?" Bane's eyes were glinting with dark amusement,

"Me? No. Never ever," he frowned. Duh, there were thousands of things he could do with a small fortune. Wipe his record for one – he had heard of that too, the clean slate thingy. Yup, Gabriel knew a lot of things, it was one of the many reasons Bane needed him. That and he was a smart guy and daring and he considered him an actual 'friend'. Not like his recruits; not like Talia. They walked until there was nowhere left to walk in which case Bane took a strange left turn and stopped at a man-hole which one of his men opened and allowed them to get down into. Gabriel followed Bane all the way through the dark tunnel until he was amazed to find himself in a gigantic underground construction site,

"And now?"

"This, Gabriel, is where we are based. Above us is Gothum Stadium and what we are trying to build is a trap because when they find us out, they will send every cop down here in which case we will blow it up and they will be stuck allowing us the freedom of which we need to hold Gothum,"

"Ok…sounds big. Bane, I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to do here, will you please fill me in? I crashed the plane and I have given you sufficient information to bankrupt and sink some of the biggest companies in the world. So talk now or I'm going,"

Bane turned to him. This was one of the rarer times where Gabriel wasn't smiling,

"Hold Gothum hostage to for fill Ra's Al Ghul's destiny: You remember the incident 10 years ago when the Batman foiled it. He killed him,"

"I remember it well. But is this for you or someone else?" Gabriel could feel a feminine buzz in the air – he knew full well where Bane's thoughts often resided, but would he ever tell him? NAY!

"It's for us, Brother," _Ah, you're such a liar, _thought he, "Gothum is corrupt and broken, filled with liars and innocent people locked in the same cells. That should not be the way – there must be a difference," _Well that's a coincidink, sounds like home._

"Must there? Those cells you speak of, those people aren't exactly innocent, my friend," he raised a challengingly eyebrow at the big man but Bane merely smiled – or so he guessed, his eyes were crinkling,

"Then it is there that you and I belong," he rested a hand on Gabriel's arm and gave a relatively gentle shove, "But for now, we need to cut Gothum off from the outside world. We have set up bombs all over the bridges save one,"

He pulled out a map and laid it flat on a table on which he pointed out all of the bridge areas and where the implanted explosives were.

"Gothum will have nowhere to go and my men will put a blockade up there,"

"Why one open bridge?"

"Hope," Bane looked up and straight into Gabriel's eyes, "We need to give them hope,"

"And…?"

"No despair is true without hope. We will build them up and crush them when they think the hour of freedom is nigh. We 'present' one of the citizens with the detonator and give them a choice,"

"Who has the real detonator though?" Gabriel cocked his head. The plan was interesting,

"Talia,"

"Ohw," he nodded _dun dun dun_, "So it goes off anyway then?"

"Yes,"

"Right. Dark. Tell me, do you have a back-up, just in case the detonator is disarmed?"

"How do you mean?" Bane frowned,

"If the detonator is attached to the core of this bomb and the bomb is stabilised, it won't matter who has the detonator. It won't go off,"

"Hmm…that is true. Very well, do you have a plan?"

"Remove the core from the reactor?"

"Indeed," Bane looked down at the map, "Then we will have a ticking time bomb,"

"Have you got a bomb?"

"Of course!" Bane's metallic voice was sort of perplexed at the thought of not having one, "Do you know Doctor Pavel's theory of world salvation?"

"I know it as an energy source,"

"Indeed, pulling the core from the reactor of that energy source should give us a good while before it goes off,"

"Well, shit!" Gabriel was impressed and so put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest in recognition of such intelligence, "That's a pretty big blast radius I'm sure,"

"60 miles all around from the blast, last time I checked,"

"That's a lot of Gothum,"

"That's the _whole_ of Gothum," Bane was fiddling with a pen with some awkwardly complicated numbers that Gabriel tried not to look at, for the shame of not knowing what the hell was going on with them was too great.

"Really? Gothum's smaller than I thought,"

"Indeed. Taking the core out of that reactor will give us 5 months,"

"You worked that out?"

"I worked that out," he turned from Gabriel and put the kettle on. Tea sounded like a plan.

"Interesting…crash Gothum's stock market too, then,"

"That could be beneficial," Bane had removed his jacket, vest and shirt and was now revealing his true form.

"Could be. It would mean that Gothum goes bankrupt and the trading lines in and out of Gothum will go dead so no income to support them. Gothum will be a slumdog island with nothing in and nothing out. You'll be able to control the supplies – the health of the city will be in your hands too."

Bane stood, turned and nodded,

"You will be in charge of that then. Mr Dagget will be pleased to hear of such a hit,"

Gabriel laughed and began to walk away,

"Yeah, I'm sure he will be considering his company's income, besides Wayne's, is what the city kinda relies on."

He walked a while before he walked into a blast that knocked him backwards and onto his back, breathless. There was a commotion happening, so he dragged himself out of harm's way where he leant against the wall, regaining his breath. He watched as 2 men attacked and knocked out a cop who was going to try and make his unsteady way out through the sewers. He looked familiar too. Gabriel hauled himself up and made his way out as the two attackers passed, dragging their victim with them,

"Hey, is that the Commissioner?"

The two men stopped and turned,

"Yeah," one of them was without a beany and it was he who replied, "Why?"

Gabriel tsked and shook his head at them,

"Bane's going to kill you, you know that?"

The two men laughed and carried on without looking back. Gabriel frowned on in their wake…they obviously weren't so aware that the 'you' Bane was going to kill, was them. He shrugged and carried on to find a new man-hole since they had just blown the closest one to shit and he wasn't a sewer rat despite having lived in a hole for a good while.

What bastards.

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**Review please :) But please remember what I said in the beginning. Any foul reviews are not appreciated by anyone. It won't change the story at all, all it does is make you look like douche. See ya!**


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